E19 - Off to the Rush - Gold Fever Strikes

Bankruptcy to gold fever—William Henry Neale's remarkable journey captures the essence of Australia's 1850s transformation.  After two financial collapses, including a £6,000 debt in England (equivalent to $1.8 million today), Neale found himself working at South Australia's famed "Monster Mine" in Burra, then the continent's seventh most populated area and largest inland settlement. 

The Monster Mine was truly extraordinary — employing over 1,000 workers and paying shareholders an astonishing 800% return on investment.  But when gold was discovered in Victoria, everything changed.  Almost overnight, this thriving community watched its workforce dwindle from thousands to fewer than 100 as gold fever swept through the colony.

 Through rare first-hand accounts from William's sons-in-law, we follow the Neale family's ambitious plan to assemble a 19-person convoy with bullocks, drays, and supplies for the 600-mile trek to Bendigo. Their expedition included William's extended family, a doctor who had recently lost his wife, several colourful bullock drivers, and even a man known as "Five Finger Jack." The convoy itself was substantial—six bullock drays, a horse dray, a spring cart, approximately 36 bullocks, plus horses, dogs, a dairy cow, and likely chickens suspended under the drays.

What makes this story exceptional is how it illuminates the social upheaval of Australia's gold rush era.  As Bill Emmett noted, "More than half of the houses in the farming district of South Australia were empty.  Six or seven married women whose husbands had left for the fields would be found living in one house."

 Join us as we uncover the human stories behind one of Australia's most dramatic economic transformations—when the promise of gold emptied mines, transformed communities, and sent thousands trekking across country in pursuit of instant fortune.  The Neale family's journey, preserved in daily diaries, provides a fascinating window into the ambitions, hardships, and entrepreneurial spirit of Australia's pioneering families. 

Contact us at todaysstories101@gmail.com or watch recent episodes on YouTube.

Transcript

Setting The Scene: Borough Booms

SPEAKER_01 0:03

G'day, I'm Peter. And good day, I'm Greg. Welcome to today's Stories from Our Past, a podcast about a history of Australia from about 1800 onwards.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

By 1851, the area known as the Borough was the seventh most populated area on the continent with a population of 5,000. The workforce at the Monster Mine exceeded 1,000. By late 1852, employee numbers had dropped to under 100. An epidemic had swept through the town. Gold fever had taken them all.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Okay, but what's that got to do with your ancestors down in Adelaide?

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Well, a few of my ancestors caught the fever as well. And this is a story of how they got from South Australia to the goldfields.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

All right. So which ancestors are you talking about?

Meet William Henry Neill’s Clan

SPEAKER_01 0:52

William Henry Neil and his extended family. A quick recap. My great-great-great-grandfather, William Henry Neill, had been declared bankrupt in England in 1835, owing 6,000 pounds. That's about 1.8 million Australian dollars today. And although he had no relevant skills, he obtained the job of assistant surveyor to Colonel Light. William and his family came out to the fledgling colony on board the Signet with George Strickland Kingston and other members of the surveying team. William helped Colonel Light peg out the streets of Adelaide, but Light soon became aware of William's lack of skills, and William's surveying career was over. After a stint as an auctioneer and general agent, William, along with many other merchants in the new colony, was declared bankrupt in 1841. This time he owed six thousand five hundred and eleven pounds.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Right. Do you know what happened to William after his bankruptcy?

Finding Kuramura: Ruins And Revelations

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Well, by 1851, William had a large family, consisting of William, his wife Mary, two sons and five daughters. The two sons were Harry and Samuel. The daughters were Mary, Frances, known as Fanny, Elizabeth Charlotte, and Rose. William was still in South Australia. The records are scant, but William got an occupation license on 1 July 1847 near Borough Hill. He called his property Kuramura. An occupation license meant that he did not own the land, but he could use it for pastoral purposes, meaning grazing sheep or cattle.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

Do you know where Kuramura was?

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Well, it took me forever to get a good location for Kuramura. Borough Hill is about fifteen kilometers south of modern day Borough, so I had a general idea of where his property would have been. But then a series of fortunate events occurred. I told a friend we were looking for it, and he said he knew someone who owned a property south of Borough. My mate put me in contact with that person, and as it happened, I'd met that bloke some ten years earlier. I contacted him, and he said he knew where the remains of the Kurumura cottage were. But all that remained of the original building was just a pile of rubble on the banks of Borough Creek. I should point out that all buildings around the borough mine were and still are, made of stone, often quite rough cut stone. This is the legacy of the limited timber in the area and the significant population of Cornish miners at the borough mine, who would build stone cottages and even fence lines as a sideline. So after some back and forth, we arranged to visit the property. The owner, who is a top bloke, took us to the site. At first glance it did seem just like a pile of old rubble, but we decided to go into time team mode. We put up our drone and looked down from above. The rectangular shapes of three small buildings emerged from within the strewn rocks. With this information, we more closely re-examined the rubble, and then we could clearly see the alignment of wall foundations. The property owner explained that the practice in those early days was if somebody moved away from their cottage, anyone could come along and remove all the wall stones for their own use. So often, the wall footings were all that remained. We were sure that we had found the Kurumura cottage and its outbuildings. It was a most surreal feeling standing on the site where, 180 years earlier, my ancestors had lived. We could not have thanked the property owner enough.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Did William make enough income from Kurumura to support his large family?

Inside The Monster Mine Economy

SPEAKER_01 5:05

No. I don't know how large his occupation license was, but I do know that by 1851, William worked at the Boroughborough Mine, which was also called the Monster Mine. Just some quick background about the Boroughborough Mine. Copper was discovered in the area in August 1845. Shepherds, William Streer and Thomas Pickett, discovered outcrops of copper close to the Borough Creek. Soon after, a similar find was made by another shepherd further to the north. News of the discovery reached Adelaide, a town already infected with a mining mania because of the success of the recently opened Capunda copper mine.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

That sounds a bit like a gold rush.

Diaries Of A Goldbound Trek

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Certainly was. And the struggle for possession of this new copper-bearing land quickly followed. A special survey of 20,000 acres was undertaken, and it was divided between two groups. One was the South Australian Mining Association and the other the Princess Royal Mining Association. On 29 September 1845, the South Australian Mining Association began mining operations at the Borough Borough Mine. By 1848, the mine employed over 500 miners. In 1850, dividends paid to shareholders reached a staggering 800% of their initial investment. By 1851, the locality, simply known as the borough, was the seventh most populated area on the continent, with a population of over 5,000, and it was the largest inland settlement in Australia. For 15 years, the mines supplied 89% of South Australia's and 5% of the world's copper. Yep, you're dead right. The current town of Borough began in 1846, but it was originally called Coringa. Coringa was owned, surveyed, and built by the South Australian Mining Association. It was the first such company town in Australia and remained so until the closure of the mine. George Strickland Kingston was responsible for laying out Coringa. If you remember from episode three, George Strickland Kingston and the Neal family all came out to the colony in 1836 on the ship The Signet. The hills around Coringa and the mine area were soon stripped of their trees to supply timber for the mine works. Coringa today is known as Borough South and is the main part of modern day borough. It's unclear to me whether the family was living near the mine at Coringa or if they were living twelve kilometers away on the occupation license at Kuromura. I suspect they lived in town as it would have been a long commute every day.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

So what options were open to William?

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Well, if you know anything at all about Australia's history, you'd know that the great gold rushes happened in the 1850s, and that Melbourne became one of the richest cities in the world.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

So William got the gold fever?

SPEAKER_01 8:52

He sure did. And I'm lucky to know how and when William got to the gold fields.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Don't tell me that William Henry Neil wrote his personal reminisces like your other ancestor John Watts.

The Emmett Brothers And The Stripper Debate

SPEAKER_01 9:05

No, William didn't write anything like that. Well, as far as I know, he didn't. But William and his family, plus a few ring-ins, trekked overland from Borough to the goldfields at Bendigo. By 1852, two of William's daughters had married. Both of their husbands were part of the trekking convoy, and they kept daily diaries of the trek. I have copies of both diaries which are entitled An Overland Journey from Kurumura, South Australia to Bendigo, Victoria. One is written by James O'Donohu, the other by William Abbott Emmett. The diaries are written in short notes with abbreviations. We'll use excerpts from the diaries that have been slightly altered so that their meaning is clear. I should also point out that both Bill and James wrote their diaries in the third person.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Okay, well you'd better tell me about these blokes.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Let's start with William Abbott Emmett. To avoid confusion with the name William Henry Neil, we'll call William Emmett Bill from now on. Bill was born on 22 November 1823 in Hobart, Tasmania. His father Harry married Mary Townsend in 1808, and they subsequently had eleven children in 14 years. Bill's father died aged 66 in 1848. One of Bill's older brothers, Edward Newceller Emmett, known as Ned, moved from Tasmania to Adelaide in 1840 and had set up an auctioneering business there. Unlike William Henry Neal, Ned didn't go bankrupt when the crash came in Adelaide in 1841-42. Then another brother, George Grindel Emmett, joined Ned in South Australia and started farming in the Lindock Valley. Unfortunately, by 1847, George had gone broke. On 22 March 1849, Ned married Sarah Blackham in Adelaide, and his business was prospering. Bill Emmett can tell us in his own words what happened. This account is not from the Trek Diary, but from other family archives.

California Or Victoria: A Fork In The Road

SPEAKER_03 11:26

At the age of 18, I left Tasmania and sailed for Adelaide, which by this time had attained some importance. My brother, Edward Emmett, had opened a store there and was doing well. He sent for me to come and assist him. Edward Emmett had a farm of 600 acres which he rented from the South Australian Company. I was given the management of this farm and put 400 acres of it under cereal crops. However, after paying men to reap by hand and threshing by horse workers, we could not make the farm pay. My big brother and a Mr. Ridley, putting their heads together, invented the stripping machine, which has now been improved into the combine harvester. For a first attempt, the stripper was a marvel of ingenuity. The comb and beaters were practically the same as they are today, very little room for improvement being left. The machine was drawn by bullocks, the comb was raised or lowered by means of a long pole, which projected from behind. The stripper made a thoroughly good job of the threshing, and when the box receptacle behind the drum became full, it was emptied onto a tarpaulin where the winnerers were stationed. I was the man that worked this stripper on its trial and subsequently threw the four hundred acres. I well remembered the first day I started. We were very much afraid there would be trouble from the hand reapers, about fifty, who all lay down their reaphooks and came to view the machine at work. Some were for breaking the stripper, but by judiciously persuading, the men were induced to return to their work. After a couple of years farming with my brother, I took a farm from the South Australian Company on my own account and did as well as could be expected under the conditions. There was no land for sale or selection at the time of which I write, the South Australian Company having a charter of the colony. After paying rent and other expenses, I very seldom had any profit left. At this time, 1847, I became tired of Bachelorhood and married Miss Neil, eldest daughter of William Henry Neil, of whom a word later on.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Hang on, didn't we say in episode 15 that John Ridley developed the stripper by himself? And now Bill Emmett's claiming that his brother Ned jointly developed the stripper with Ridley.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Do you know what's going on here? Yeah. Bill's story there doesn't seem quite right. So I went back to the early South Australian newspapers to see what actually happened. Firstly, there is no doubt that Ned Emmett and John Ridley knew each other. In October eighteen forty two, they occupied the same building. Secondly, at this time there was considerable interest in finding machine that could mechanically reap wheat crops to replace the existing labor-intensive and costly method of hand reaping. A reaping machine was needed. On 5 September 1843, a newspaper advertised that.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

On Tuesday evening, according to announcement, the Market Committee held a meeting at the Auction Mart Tavern for the purpose of arranging with the inventors of reaping machines in reference to their exhibition for the benefit of the public, and as to the reward to be bestowed for the best machines.

Assembling The Nineteen And Their Gear

SPEAKER_01 14:44

So the need for a reaping machine had been identified, and a reward was being offered for the best design. Several people proposed ideas for such a machine. At the meeting, the newspaper noted that.

SPEAKER_04 14:59

Messrs. Herbert, Smith, Emmett, and others exhibited plans, but we are unable to describe the inventions.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Okay. So Ned Emmett had plans for a stripper, but he didn't have a working model.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Yeah, just plans. Soon after, a newspaper reported that.

SPEAKER_04 15:17

On Tuesday, 19th September, two adaptations of the ancient mode of thrashing were presented to the Reaping Committee. One of them was by Mr. Emmett on behalf of Mr. King of Gaulatown, who proposed to cut off the ears by revolving knives. The other was by Mr. Bull, who proposed revolving beaters, being in fact the same principle as had been mentioned by Mr. Ridley in the register of 2nd September. At the time, however, that Mr. Bull brought forward his plan, Mr. Ridley's machine was nearly constructed.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Okay. In other words, Ned Emmett had just had the plans for a strip of when John Ridley had already just about built his machine.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Yeah. This is a classic example of how you need to fact check everything. While memoirs are particularly useful, sometimes they can overstate the accomplishments of the author. Clearly, Bill Emmett is overstating the accomplishments of his brother Ned. And there's something else that Bill's got wrong. He says that he married William Henry Neil's daughter in 1847. In fact, they married on the twenty third of March 1850.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Well, that's a bit slack, and Bill can't even remember the date of his wedding anniversary. So how was his brother Ned going?

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Well, things aren't going too well for Ned. Like his brother George, Ned was declared bankrupt. By 1850, legal proceedings had started. To compound matters, Ned's seven-month-old son died in November of that year. By 1851, the legal proceedings against Ned were still unresolved, so he took action. The following is from Ned's 1874 obituary.

Bullock Drays, Offsiders, And Logistics

SPEAKER_04 17:14

It is with very much regret that we have to announce the death of one of the earliest pioneers of this goldfield, Mr. Edward Newceller Emmett, who expired yesterday morning in Sydney from the effects of an apoplectic fit with which he was attacked a few days ago. Mr. Emmett arrived on Bendigo from Adelaide early in 1852 and for a short time employed himself in digging, chiefly in Iron Bark Gully, where he found some valuable quartz specimens, and may be said to have been the first discoverer of the Hustler's Reef.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

So Ned Scarpad off to the Victorian goldfields and one of the first there.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

Yeah. And from what I can determine from the legal proceedings, the people to whom he owed money were happy enough with this outcome. Ned striking it rich on the goldfields was probably their only way of getting him to pay off his debts.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

I do have one query here. Victoria wasn't the only place in the world to have a gold rush. After all, the most famous gold rush was in California in 1849. The miners were the fabulous 49ers. If George Emmett went broke in 1847, why didn't he go to California? And then Ned could have followed him there.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

That's a good question. And yes, George did head off to California. Despite some very newspapers' reports about the uh Californian gold rush in Adelaide papers, George Emmett left Adelaide on 10 January 1850 for the California rush on board the Pauline.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

Okay, so how did George fare in California?

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Um not so good. Here's a report that appeared in the Lawn Cest and Examiner on 26 October 1850.

SPEAKER_04 19:08

Deaths at California early in June, 13 days after his arrival in the Pauline from Adelaide, Mr. George Emmett, aged 36.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Okay, I can see why they didn't go to California. So Ned must have told Bill back in South Australia about his luck on the Mendigo goldfields.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Yeah, because not long after, Bill Emmett, James O'Donohue, who we'll meet soon, and William Henry Neil's older son Harry, rode across to the goldfields. Their overland journey took five weeks. Bill goes on to say.

Fact Checking The Past And Closing

SPEAKER_03 19:48

And only a few years later, in 1850, news arrived of the discovery of gold in Victoria. As I had mentioned, there was very little opportunity of making money out of farming, so I Accompanied with my brother in law, Harry Neal and Mr. James O'Donohue, decided to start overland for the goldfields. We were one of the first gold fever parties who left South Australia, but followed in our wake were every man that could get away. Most of the people went via Melbourne, but I think very few arrived on the fields before we did. More than half of the houses in the farming district of South Australia were empty. Six or seven married women whose husbands had left for the fields would be found living in one house. They did this as a means of protection from unwelcome visitors.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

It is correct that Bill married Mary Elizabeth Neil, William Henry Neal's oldest daughter, on 23 March 1850 in Adelaide. Bill and Mary would go on to have twelve children in the next sixteen years. Their first child was William Henry, known as Willie, born on 17 April, 1851.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

Okay. However, based on the story about the stripper, the things we need to fact check whatever Bill says.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Yep, you're right there. After their marriage in 1850, Bill and Mary went on to reside at the Little Para River in the Mount Barker Rangers. But soon after, Bill and Mary moved to Borough, where Mary's father, William Henry Neil, was working in the monster mine. It's likely that Bill Emmett ran cattle on Kuromura while William Henry Neill worked at the mine.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Okay. So Bill Emmett's now married into the Neill clan. Now you'd better tell me about this other fellow, James O'Donohue.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

James O'Neill O'Donohu was the son of Thomas O'Donohue. Thomas was born in Ireland, but as a young man he joined the British Army and subsequently spent 25 years in India, where he married. Thomas's life in India and subsequent return to England, followed by a move to Tasmania, is a long and interesting story, which we'll cover in later episodes. Thomas and his wife Elizabeth had ten children, with James being their eighth child. James' birth on 20 August 1820 was registered in Fort William, Calcutta, where his father was based, but the family story is that he was born at sea on a trip back from Singapore. Thomas O'Donoghue was put on half pay from the army in 1825 and was granted a large area of land near Oyster Bay in Tasmania. Thomas and his family arrived in Hobart in 1828, accompanied by another army family, the Stammers. Thomas O'Donoghue passed away in 1831 in Port Sorrel at the age of 53. James was only ten years old when his father died. James's mother passed away in 1843 in Hobart at the age of 57. By then James was twenty three years old. So subsequently James and his friend, JJ Stammers, went over to Victoria looking for work. I can't find out where and when James O'Donohue meets Bill Emmett. But by 1850, James had moved to the borough. Then, as I said, in early 1852, Bill Emmett, James O'Donohue, and William Henry Neal's oldest son Harry rode across to the goldfields. Subsequently, Harry Neal stayed in Benigo, probably with Ned Emmett. While Bill Emmett and James O'Donohue returned to South Australia by ship. They departed Melbourne on 26 June and arrived in Adelaide on 4 July 1852. They then went straight up to the borough.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Okay, so Bill Emmett and James O'Donohue arrived in borough in July 1852 with news of the gold rush in Bendigo. So how did the extended Neil family get to the rush?

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Well, part of the news that Bill and James brought back from the gold fields was that there was a shortage of bullocks and other heavy livestock there. They heard that good raft horses were selling in Bendigo from 50 to 60 pounds each, and saddle horses from twenty to thirty pounds each. So they came up with a cunning plan. They put together a party, including several bullock drivers with their teams, to trek overland to bendigo. Once there, they would sell the draft animals and start life on the goal fields with money in their pockets. Here's an extract from Bill Emmett's trick diary describing the group.

SPEAKER_03 24:48

There were 19 people in the party. I think it nothing but right that I should say who made up the nineteen. Namely Mr. William Henry Neal, William Emmett, James O'Donohue and their wives. Elizabeth, Charlotte, and Helen Neal, also a boy, Sam Neill. Dr. Lloyd, Mr. Hennel and Charlie, a French lad who ran away from his ship and was at the Borough mines with William Henry Neal. Charlie travelled nearly all the way over with us, and a stranger overtaking us with a lead horse induced Charlie to go with him, giving him the lead horse to ride, so Charlie made a bolt of it for the second time. Next, bullock drivers Abe, Joe, Chunky, and Ladd. Also, a bullock driver named Five Finger Jack and William Emmett's little son, Willie. Nineteen in all. Now, I suppose you would like to know how Bullock driver Jack came by the name of Five Finger Jack. It was in this way. He met with an accident, so he had four fingers on one hand and one finger on the other, and was always known as Five Finger Jack ever afterwards.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

So they put together a party of nineteen people to trek across to the gold fields. Could you give us a bit more detail about these people?

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Okay. The nineteen people consisted of four adult women, four children, that's uh under eighteen, and eleven working men. There was William Henry Neal, age fifty-two, who was known amongst the group as the governor, and his wife Mary, age fifty. Their unmarried children were son Samuel, aged eight, and daughters Elizabeth eighteen, Charlotte fourteen, and Rose eleven. Then there's Bill Emmett, age twenty nine, and his wife Mary, age twenty-three, and their young son Willie, just fourteen months old at the start of the trek. And Mary was pregnant at the start of their journey. The diary notes that James Adon, who was who was thirty-two, had got married just a short time before the start of the journey. James married Fanny Neil, another one of William Henry Neil's daughters, on 17 july 1852 in the Church of St. Mary in Borough. Fanny was twenty one. Now that's only a fortnight after the lads have got back from the goldfields. The Church of St. Mary was erected on a site donated by the South Australian Mining Company on the southwest corner of Church and Ware Streets. The church was later replaced by the current St. Mary's Church of England, located in Market Street Borough.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

Do you know anything about the rest of the party?

SPEAKER_01 27:34

Well, firstly, Dr. Lloyd. After a bit of digging, I found out that Dr. Charles Lloyd had arrived in South Australia on the Dorset from Sydney on 2 January 1849. By 1852, Dr. Lloyd had been working at the Boroughborough mine as a doctor there for some time. On 11 November 1851, Charles Lloyd married Annie Gregg in Borough. Sadly, just eight months later, on 5 July 1852, Charles Lloyd's wife Annie died of consumption. You'd have to think that the tragic death of his wife might have been the trigger for Charles to throw in his job at the mine and head over to the goldfields with the extended Neal family.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

Well, that's sad. Perhaps he was looking for a fresh start over there. My guess is that you could make good money as a doctor in the goldfields rather than just joining the diggers. Anything else?

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Well, Mr. Hennell is Henry Holford Hennell, aged 24. He was a nephew of James the Donohue. Henry had arrived in the colony of South Australia on the Jenny Lind on thirteenth, june eighteen fifty, having sailed from Plymouth. My guess is that he was hoping to have the colonial experience, as it was called at the time, with his uncle James. Unfortunately, I can't find anything at all about the backstories of the bullock drivers.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Okay, so they put together this party of nineteen people. What happened next?

SPEAKER_01 29:13

Well, they start preparing for their journey. In his diary, Bill Emmett writes Monday, the 2nd of August.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Preparations and starting for an overland journey from Kouramura, South Australia to Bendigo, Victoria, between five and six hundred miles. Party all told. William Emmett and James O'Donohue just having returned from the Victorian Gold Fields. The next day, after our arrival, went up to Dan O'Leary's public house, where we knew there were four teams of bullocks for sale. Purchased the lot at a fair price, all complete with the exception of one of the drays which had the pole broken, and one of the men called it the Polly Dre, and it was always called by that name until it was sold in Victoria.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

Now, a quick word about Dan O'Leary's public house. It was also called the Sod Hut Inn, or simply just the Sod Hut. It was about twelve kilometers, that's about eight miles, south of Borough on what was then the road to Adelaide. Bullock drays carried copper ore from the monster mine to Port Adelaide and returned with supplies. A fully laden bullock dray travelled about eight to ten miles in one day, so the sod hut was conveniently located one day's travel from Borough. The team says to stop at the sod hut for the night, where they would generously partake in refreshments while their bullock's teams rested. From all accounts, it was a crude affair, run by this Irishman Dan O'Leary. Today, the ruins of the sod hut are visible beside the Canoer Road, about twelve K south of Borough. Bill Lemmet then describes more about their preparations.

SPEAKER_03 31:03

He writes Tuesday, 3rd August. All hands fixing up the drays. Four hoops on each dray. Horse dray and spring cart all had hoops, then an old blanket for lining and stout tuphaulin over each one, a very busy day it was. Wednesday, 4th August. Commenced loading. One or two drays were partly finished, and while the loading was proceeding, William Henry Neal arranged with an extraordinary short fat man called Chunky, who had two teams of bullocks, to carry for us half a ton of goods in each of his drays over to Bendigo, and he and his hired boy had their rations with our men in payment for his work, which enabled him to get to the gold fields without costing him anything. This made up the six bullock drays. Chunky had a cask of port at least 600 weight. Also, a cask of beef about the same weight and various other things. Long rope and two porter hogsheads for crossing the Dreys over the Murray River when we came to the crossing place. Chunky arrived with his two Dreys in the evening, and while the Drays were getting their finishing touch, William Henry Neill, James O'Donohue, and Henry Hennel, who was with us, were engaged in mustering the cattle. William Henry Neill having sold the run with all the cattle mustered by a certain date at one pound per head for the cattle, with the run given in.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Now, there's a lot of detail in this section that we'll need to explain. But, firstly, having read lots of diaries and reminiscences written in the 19th century, I've noticed something. We need to consider what information they would have taken for granted at the time and not bothered to include in a diary. For example, let's say I was about to go on a long trip and I was going to keep a journal like Bill and James did. I might write in my journal that I sent an email to all my friends and family letting them know the details of my trip. I wouldn't bother explaining in my journal what an email was because, well, that's common knowledge. However, if somebody found my journal and read it in a hundred years' time, they might wonder what an email was. The same happens in 18th century diaries. They don't specifically give some details because they assume that anyone reading their journal would have knowledge about the norms of the time.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

Well, some information that I can help you with is that when Bill says hoops, he means putting an outer iron rib on the wooden wheels of the drays. And this was essential for travel over rough country. Hour hoops on each dray means that the drays had two axles. So they had large drays, not the smaller single axle drays. Furthermore, once the iron rim was fitted onto the wooden wheel, it was said that the wheel was then entire or complete. Hence the iron rims became known as tires. And that's actually the origin of the word we use today for rubber tyres.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Yes. And I've got another word for you that is derived from the days of the bullock wagon. A bullocky was sometimes accompanied by a young lad. In our story, the bullocky chunky had a lad with him. The young lad would walk on the opposite side, called the offside, of the bullock team to the bullocky, keeping the offside bullocks up to their work. He became known as an offsider. Nowadays the term offsider applies to anybody else. So, Greg, you're my offsider.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

Okay, fair enough. So what is a hundredweight?

SPEAKER_01 34:49

In the diary, Bill writes, a cask of port at least six CWT. CWT was the abbreviation for a hundredweight, which in the wonderful imperial system was not a hundred pounds. A hundred weight was a hundred and twelve pounds. So six hundred weight is about three hundred and five kilos. The load, half of tons of goods in each of his drays, meant a load of about five hundred kilos per dray.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Okay, and what about porter hogsheads?

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Porter hogsheads refers to both the beer style and to the barrel. Specifically, the beer was a dark ale with a robust malt forward flavor profile, which was traditionally shipped from England to India in large quantities. These were transported in large wooden barrels called hogsheads. A standardized hogshead was about 1.2 meters high and 76 centimeters in diameter at the head. It held about 250 litres, depending on the width in the middle.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

Is that all they were taking with them?

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Well, they never say how many bullocks they had. But a typical working team had 10 to 12 bullocks. So being conservative, it's probable that they had at least six to eight bullocks per dray. This means they would have had somewhere between thirty-six and forty-eight bullocks in total. It's now helpful to work out who was where when they were on the road. They say that they had a spring cart, and later on they say that it was drawn by a Timor pony. As Bill Emmett's wife was pregnant at the start of the trip, and she had a 14-month-old son with her, it's reasonable to guess that she would have been on the spring cart. With the spring undercarriage, this would have been the smoothest vehicle to ride in. She would have needed a driver. Let's say her father, William Henry Neal, drove the spring cart. Then they had six bullock wagons. Most bullock wagons didn't have any seating, and the bullocky walked beside them. So there would have been six walking bullockes. My guess is Abe, Joe, Chunky, and his lad, also walking, Five Finger Jack plus Bill Emmett and James O. James O'Donohue. The French lad, Charlie, probably was an offsider to one of the wagons. It's likely that all of these men had a horse, which would have been tethered to the back of each wagon. Then there's the horse tray. It would have had four to six horses. By process of elimination, it's likely that Henry Halford drove the wagon, with William Henry Neil's wife Mary, and daughter Fanny on board. The younger Neil children would have been spread across the various wagons. This leaves Dr. Lloyd, who probably rode his own horse.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

Okay, is that all?

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Not quite. In passing, later in the diaries, they mention that they had a dairy cow with them. Later they refer to cows plural. These cows would have been milked every day to provide milk for tea and for the children. After all, there were no supermarkets along the track. Many of the men would also have had a dog. The bullocks often had a well trained dog who would nip at the heels of lazy bullocks. Later in the diaries, they specifically mentioned some dogs, particularly large dogs used for hunting kangaroos. Also, although they don't mention them, they probably had some chickens in wooden coops. The chickens would provide fresh eggs and meat.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

Okay. So in summary you're saying that there would have been nineteen trekkers, six bullock wagons, a horse wagon and a spring cart, thirty-six to forty eight bullocks, at least ten to fifteen horses, some dairy cows, numbers unknown, and a pack of dogs. And that group would have been quite a substantial convoy.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Yeah. This is no small group heading off towards the goldfields.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

One last question. Have you checked the overall veracity of the diaries? How can you be sure that someone in the later generation simply made up a lot of this stuff?

SPEAKER_01 39:31

Good question. I did find an obituary for one of the trekkers, James O'Donohue. James died in 1885, and we'll discuss his life in later episodes. In his obit, there are many sections which appear to have been directly taken out of the diaries. This gives me confidence that the information that we're using wasn't made up generations after the event.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

Okay. Well, it sounds like They're getting organized and have gathered a great team together. But how did they go?

SPEAKER_01 40:05

You'll have to wait until our next episode, where we'll describe the first stage of the journey. It may not surprise you to know that they were not the only ones to have this idea. In early September 1852, a newspaper noted that.

SPEAKER_04 40:21

The price of copper has risen about five pounds a ton in the London market within the last week or two, in consequence of the news from South Australia that the miners had deserted the Borough Borough mines to seek gold at the diggings.

SPEAKER_01 40:39

By 1851, the area known as the Borough had become the seventh most populated area on the continent, with a population of 5,000 and the largest inland settlement in Australia. The workforce at the Monster Mine exceeded a thousand, with 378 at the Smulting Works and many other offside workers.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

Wow, it looks like gold fever has really broken out.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

Yes, indeed. So it's goodbye from me.

SPEAKER_02 41:24

And it's goodbye from me. Thank you.